It seems that polearms are just the way to go versus spears, but I was wondering if I'm missing something. I was going to make a variant human with the spear mastery perk and focus on melee / casting as needed. Compared to Polearm mastery I get an early +1 to hit and my damage is comparable to polearms, though I trade reach for thrown. With polearm mastery I would have to wait until level three before I could use a glaive with Pact of the Blade, so i'd be stuck with a quarterstaff until then. So my question is really...
Go for polearm mastery and get a power spike at level three with the bonus attack = More damage
Go spear mastery at level one and keep my bonus actions available for spells. = More versatility.
With thirsting blade at level 5 I can see the polearm pulling away in terms of damage done by a more noticeable margin, but technically it's still just a bonus action attack farther ahead. I'm really torn about this because I see polearms, ultimately, as the better weapon, but thematically spear mastery makes more sense for my warlock (The versatile perk is fluffed to be a difference in length. One handed the spear is only a two foot long shaft with a foot long blade, and functions like a longsword. When two handed the shaft grows out up to six feet, making the spear seven feet long in total).
I like the idea of being flexible, but then again I haven't played a warlock into the deeper levels, so there may be something I'm just generally unaware of that I'm not taking into account. Polearms being able to hit with an attack and then a bonus action attack while the target is cursed ramps up the damage even more. And the whole Great Weapon mastery feat combined with Hexblade's curse...
Sadly, there is no martial spear in D&D... There is, but it's the Yklwa from Tomb of Annihilation.
1d8 damage, 1 handed spear, with a 10/30 throw. It's still a simple weapon (which makes it amazing for it's class), but I'm pretty sure it represents the Iklwa (Zulu short spear) or other similar weapons.
Sidenote: I don't understand why the Polearm Master feat DOESN'T give the bonus to the Pike... when I can't image a GM faulting you for wanting to have a Pike as a "giant spear".
Personally I think since you're going Pact of the Blade Hexblade... polearm is heads and shoulders over Spear.
That said:
Polearm Mastery lets you get attacks from 10' away, and if you're 5' away you get another attack as a Bonus Action, with Hex Blade that's all with your CHA for hit and damage. In addition every time an enemy enters your reach you'll get a ReAction attack. IF you are willing to take an AoO (Amor of Agathys is GREAT for this) or have the Mobile feat to not draw it...
Action: 2 attacks with the main weapon B.Action: 1 attack with the short end Move: step back 10' ReAction: 1 attack with the main weapon as they enter your Reach.
IF you have Warcaster (possibly instead of Mobile), when they draw an AoO, you can cast a cantrip like Booming Blade. They either have to take extra damage or never get into melee with you.
With this kind of build in mind you will be very mobile, bouncing around the battlefield and always moving in and out of combat.
They just aren't Martial Weapons. Burning a feat to make a Spear almost the equal of any other Martial Weapon you are already proficient with just doesn't make sense.
I personally think the Spear Mastery feat just isn't a great feat. It's not designed to make the Spear compete with the Longsword for Fighters. It's designed to give Druids, Sorcerers, etc.. a better weapon, if that's what they wanted. (that said, spending a Bonus Action to be able to use Booming Blade or Green Flame Blade with a Spear from 10' away isn't aweful for a caster) BUT that also means that same caster needs a high Strength score to hit/damage with the spear, because they aren't a Hexblade. If you're Hexblade, you have better options.
I have a Variant Human Warlock that took Magic Initiate Druid for his initial feat, for thematic reasons, choosing Shillelagh as a cantrip. This allows him to boost his staff as bonus action and use charisma as his attack modifier. Down the road he'll still be able to use it if he acquires a magic staff.
Maybe a poor use of a feat but fits this character and doesn't hamper him too much.
I have a Variant Human Warlock that took Magic Initiate Druid for his initial feat, for thematic reasons, choosing Shillelagh as a cantrip. This allows him to boost his staff as bonus action and use charisma as his attack modifier. Down the road he'll still be able to use it if he acquires a magic staff.
Maybe a poor use of a feat but fits this character and doesn't hamper him too much.
Magic Initiate states that "Your spellcasting ability for these spells depends on the class you chose: Charisma for bard, sorcerer, or warlock; Wisdom for cleric or druid: or Intelligence for wizard." So you'd be hit and damage with your Wisdom instead of Charisma. You'd only get to use your Charisma if you're Hex Blade or if you're Pact of the Tome and you gain Shillelagh as one of your Pact of the Tome spells.
Here's another question then; what would be the best way to make use of a one handed versatile weapon like the longsword? I expect having a shield would be necessary, which sort of makes the versatile trait useless. Was thinking of versatile just so I didn't -need- to spec into Warcaster, even though it's a good feat.
One Benefit I will say from Warlock is that you have a *very* limited spell selection.
Remember that you have 1 free "interact" a turn. So if you have a shield and you want to cast a spell it's easy to "sheath weapon" for free and "cast spell" and next turn "draw weapon" for free and attack.
This stops you from using ReAction spells likes Hellish Rebuke, but aside from that you're very free.
When you open combat, you can cast Hex as a Bonus Action, free draw weapon, and then attack. Moving Hex doesn't require recasting the spell just using a Bonus Action.
Having a very limited spell selection means that in the first 2 rounds of combat you can already blow through all your spells and not have to worry about it.
I feel like if you're going Pact of the Blade it's best to opt for two handed weapons 100% of the time then. Even then, it's an action to summon your pact weapon, and a free action to draw one on you. So a sword and board hexblade might be better off picking another pact?
Blade pact Hexblade: Cast Hex, action to summon weapon.
Other pact(?) Sword and board Hexblade: Cast Hex, draw weapon, attack.
This is heavily my personal opinion as play style are radically different. I see the summon weapon as a cool feature, so you can't be disarmed... not an every day thing. It doesn't matter if you're captured and stripped naked in a dungeon or at the Duke's Daughter's Wedding... with an Action, you are armed.
It takes an Action to Don/Doff a shield. In general when playing Sword and Board I keep the shield on my arm most of the time and draw my weapon when I need to.
With two handed the choice is higher damage (great axe/maul/greatsword) or reach (halberd/glaive/pike). The benefits of a Polearm is you can use the Cantrip Booming Blade to keep the enemy at a distance, but if you're using the Cantrip then you're not using Extra Attack feature. Same can be said for Green Flame Blade with either any weapon. Do you want 2 attacks or a single big attack. That said the Cantrip will keep scaling after lvl 11, Extra Attack won't. Level 11 is long a way away.
Sword/Board gives you a lot more defense, and Warlocks are squishy. They don't have easy ways to heal or reduce damage like Fighters, Barbarians, Monks, etc... and have d8 HP. Hexblade is going to have Medium armor so you're looking at AC15-18 (dependant on Dex and if you're using a Shield)
Two Weapon Fighting is probably terrible has a Hexblade, you can't enchant 2 weapons so 1 is Cha based the other is not. It has the same penalties for casting a Shield, but has more attacks a turn and so can trigger Hex more often.
I personally love Shields, but I'm a hugely defensive player who prioritizes negating damage as being as good or better then healing. That's a personal crutch that effects my view and I know creates a bias. Heck, I have a Wizard who I'm thinking of giving Shield Master so I can be more resistant to enemy casters!
So if I went polearm master, would it be better to attack and then bonus attack, or use booming blade with spear mastery and then back away out of range, so if they chase me they take damage, and I can use my reaction to attack again. At level 5 assuming 16 charisma
1d10+3 + 1d8 + 2d8(if they move before next turn) + 1d10+3 = 11 - 52 damage (spear mastery)
So even by level 5, booming blade with a reach weapon will out damage thirsting blade by quite a large margin... So how do I make the most out of this information? How would I make a slippery, pokey hexblade that casts booming blade when they're close, and if they don't come closer I can throw eldritch blasts at them? Hmmm... Considering I still want to use a spear / polearm. With Mobile and polearm mastery, I could booming blade, step out of range and if they come closer do an opportunity attack. With mobile and spear mastery (two handed) I could do the same thing, but if I move 20 feet away I can bonus action to set my spear. If they move they'd take booming blade damage, plus if they come into range I'd attack for 1d8/10 with a bonus 1d8/10 piercing damage. All this being said, the damage from booming blade is focused around the target following me around and letting me do it to them. Whereas the polearm mastery attacks are based on my own aggression.
Mobile + spear mastery (assuming two handed) at level 5: 1d10+3 + 1d8 + 2d8 + 1d10+3 + 1d10 = 12 - 62 damage. Assuming they move into range for the counter attack. intelligent creatures would kill this combo.
Mobile + polearm mastery at level 5 (double attack): 2d10+6 + 1d4+3 + 1d10+3 = 16 - 46 assuming they move into range for the counter.
Mobile + polearm mastery at level 5 (booming blade): 1d10+3 + 1d8 + 1d4+3 + 2d8 = 11 - 45 assuming they move into range for the counter.
So considering all this, spear mastery has the highest damage range but polearm mastery with thirsting blade would be more consistent overall. Am I missing anything?
Let's consider what level 12 might be like then, assuming an extra 5 damage for each attack.
Mobile + spear mastery w/ booming blade (assuming two handed): 1d10+8 + 1d8 + 2d8 + 1d10+8 + 1d10 = 22 - 72 damage. Average of 47 dpr
Mobile + polearm mastery (double attack): 2d10+10 + 1d4+8 + 1d10+8 = 36 - 66 assuming they move into range for the counter. Average of 49.5 dpr
Mobile + polearm mastery (booming blade): 1d10+8 + 1d8 + 1d4+8 + 2d8 = 21 - 65 assuming they move into range for the counter. Average of 43 dpr
At level 12 the numbers for polearm mastery are much better, and this is all discounting resistances and so on. Polearm mastery will perform more consistently overall, pulling ahead with a higher base damage and average...
...Except that I forgot to add in Booming blade's damage upgrade from level 11, which is an extra 1d8 for each damage roll. meaning;
Mobile + spear mastery w/ booming blade (assuming two handed): 1d10+8 + 2d8 + 3d8 + 1d10+8 + 1d10 = 24 - 86 damage. Average of 55 dpr
Mobile + polearm mastery (double attack): 2d10+10 + 1d4+8 + 1d10+8 = 36 - 66 assuming they move into range for the counter. Average of 49.5 dpr
Mobile + polearm mastery (booming blade): 1d10+8 + 2d8 + 1d4+8 + 3d8 = 23 - 70 assuming they move into range for the counter. Average of 46.5 dpr
Again it looks like Polearm Mastery has a higher minimum damage when using the double attack, but as the game goes on it seems that you need to pair it with Great Weapon Mastery to get the best benefit for it, which I don't really want to invest in with my warlock. That being said, it is a powerful combo. This has pretty much sealed the deal on what I want to do with my character, regardless of being "better" or not, at least it's comparable under the parameters we set.
For other hexblades looking at polearms, going Polearm mastery and then Great weapon mastery, with maybe even elven accuracy to make sure you hit, will give you crazy damage potential. Imagine adding 30 damage to your dpr by level 8. and that's minimum damage, assuming each strike hits.
That reminds me, I forgot to add in the +1 to hit from spear mastery. My calculations assume you're always hitting for dpr. Thanks everyone for the help, you've helped me decide on a character next time we start a new campaign :D
IF you're willing to eat an AoO on a regular basis. Take Polearm Mastery and Warcaster. If you want to keep Hex up, Warcaster will help... as Hex will add to every attack for how long it lasts.
Assuming 5th lvl and human to have both feats.
Turn 1: Move within 10' of enemy and use Action to attack twice, then move outside of 10'. (B.Action Hex if you want to) Turn 1: Enemy moves within 10' of you, as a ReAction make an AoO (Polearm) and cast Booming Blade (Warcaster). Enemy either stays 10' away or moves within 5' of you and gets the extra damage. Turn 2: Bonus Action. off end attack, Action Attack twice. Move over 10' away from enemy, draw an Attack of Opportunity. ....repeat. I'd recommend Armor of Agathys to give extra damage when they attack you and temp HP.
You are drawing AoOs, but probably dealing far more damage with your AoOs. Also KageAcuma, Lifedrinker deals your Cha in extra damage, not necessarily +5.
Thank you KageAcuma, I scrap everything I ever said because I missed the 5ft not weapon reach. I'd have to redesign and think about it.
On my Math? I was assuming 16 charisma for all my bonus (just cause), so adding lifedrinker (which I thought was a static +5, thanks fullmetal for clearing that up) brought it up to 8. Where are you getting the +10 from?
Edit to Fullmetalbunny: I was assuming the mobile feat instead of warcaster to after my attacks I could move without provoking opportunity. Warcaster is a good feat but two handed weapons can cast with their offhand to cast bonus action spells and still be able to use cantrips (booming blade) afterward. Warcaster is good because of the advantage to save on concentration saving rolls though.
On my Math? I was assuming 16 charisma for all my bonus (just cause), so adding lifedrinker (which I thought was a static +5, thanks fullmetal for clearing that up) brought it up to 8. Where are you getting the +10 from?
He's assuming you'll have 20 Cha by 12th level.
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"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both" -- allegedly Benjamin Franklin
Ok so let's reorganize raising the value on just one equation inflates its numbers compared to the others.
Mobile + spear mastery w/ booming blade (assuming two handed): 1d10+10 + 2d8 + 3d8 + 1d10+10 + 1d10 = 28 - 90 damage. Average of 59 dpr
Mobile + polearm mastery (double attack): 1d10+10 + 1d10+10 + 1d4+10 + 1d10+10 = 44 - 74 Average of 59 dpr. KageAcuma is correct here.
Looking at the math this way, again, proves that Polearm mastery will pull away in terms of shear minimum damage and consistency. Again, adding something like Great weapon mastery to this would further give even further risk - reward to your damage. But otherwise, the dpr is actually tied here. I'm not trying to say spear mastery is better, only that it's more competitive when you take its bonus action into consideration. Adding Hexblade's curse also gives a small addition to polearm mastery's (your proficiency) dpr considering you get another attack off.
Is there anything else I may be missing that may affect the values here? Please feel free to add your perspective into the mix.
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It seems that polearms are just the way to go versus spears, but I was wondering if I'm missing something. I was going to make a variant human with the spear mastery perk and focus on melee / casting as needed. Compared to Polearm mastery I get an early +1 to hit and my damage is comparable to polearms, though I trade reach for thrown. With polearm mastery I would have to wait until level three before I could use a glaive with Pact of the Blade, so i'd be stuck with a quarterstaff until then. So my question is really...
Go for polearm mastery and get a power spike at level three with the bonus attack = More damage
Go spear mastery at level one and keep my bonus actions available for spells. = More versatility.
With thirsting blade at level 5 I can see the polearm pulling away in terms of damage done by a more noticeable margin, but technically it's still just a bonus action attack farther ahead. I'm really torn about this because I see polearms, ultimately, as the better weapon, but thematically spear mastery makes more sense for my warlock (The versatile perk is fluffed to be a difference in length. One handed the spear is only a two foot long shaft with a foot long blade, and functions like a longsword. When two handed the shaft grows out up to six feet, making the spear seven feet long in total).
I vote for thematically every time :)
Perpetually annoyed that Eldritch Knights can't use Eldritch Blast, Eldritch Smite, and Eldritch Sight.
I like the idea of being flexible, but then again I haven't played a warlock into the deeper levels, so there may be something I'm just generally unaware of that I'm not taking into account. Polearms being able to hit with an attack and then a bonus action attack while the target is cursed ramps up the damage even more. And the whole Great Weapon mastery feat combined with Hexblade's curse...
Sadly, there is no martial spear in D&D... There is, but it's the Yklwa from Tomb of Annihilation.
1d8 damage, 1 handed spear, with a 10/30 throw. It's still a simple weapon (which makes it amazing for it's class), but I'm pretty sure it represents the Iklwa (Zulu short spear) or other similar weapons.
Sidenote: I don't understand why the Polearm Master feat DOESN'T give the bonus to the Pike... when I can't image a GM faulting you for wanting to have a Pike as a "giant spear".
Personally I think since you're going Pact of the Blade Hexblade... polearm is heads and shoulders over Spear.
That said:
Polearm Mastery lets you get attacks from 10' away, and if you're 5' away you get another attack as a Bonus Action, with Hex Blade that's all with your CHA for hit and damage.
In addition every time an enemy enters your reach you'll get a ReAction attack.
IF you are willing to take an AoO (Amor of Agathys is GREAT for this) or have the Mobile feat to not draw it...
Action: 2 attacks with the main weapon
B.Action: 1 attack with the short end
Move: step back 10'
ReAction: 1 attack with the main weapon as they enter your Reach.
IF you have Warcaster (possibly instead of Mobile), when they draw an AoO, you can cast a cantrip like Booming Blade. They either have to take extra damage or never get into melee with you.
With this kind of build in mind you will be very mobile, bouncing around the battlefield and always moving in and out of combat.
Again it seems like the Spear can't keep up. It looks like i'll be using a quarterstaff for my first two levels to benefit from polearm mastery.
I agree with you Veredis,
They just aren't Martial Weapons. Burning a feat to make a Spear almost the equal of any other Martial Weapon you are already proficient with just doesn't make sense.
I personally think the Spear Mastery feat just isn't a great feat. It's not designed to make the Spear compete with the Longsword for Fighters. It's designed to give Druids, Sorcerers, etc.. a better weapon, if that's what they wanted. (that said, spending a Bonus Action to be able to use Booming Blade or Green Flame Blade with a Spear from 10' away isn't aweful for a caster) BUT that also means that same caster needs a high Strength score to hit/damage with the spear, because they aren't a Hexblade. If you're Hexblade, you have better options.
I have a Variant Human Warlock that took Magic Initiate Druid for his initial feat, for thematic reasons, choosing Shillelagh as a cantrip.
This allows him to boost his staff as bonus action and use charisma as his attack modifier. Down the road he'll still be able to use it if he acquires a magic staff.Maybe a poor use of a feat but fits this character and doesn't hamper him too much.
ETA: whoops, thanks FMB
Perpetually annoyed that Eldritch Knights can't use Eldritch Blast, Eldritch Smite, and Eldritch Sight.
So you'd be hit and damage with your Wisdom instead of Charisma. You'd only get to use your Charisma if you're Hex Blade or if you're Pact of the Tome and you gain Shillelagh as one of your Pact of the Tome spells.
Here's another question then; what would be the best way to make use of a one handed versatile weapon like the longsword? I expect having a shield would be necessary, which sort of makes the versatile trait useless. Was thinking of versatile just so I didn't -need- to spec into Warcaster, even though it's a good feat.
One Benefit I will say from Warlock is that you have a *very* limited spell selection.
Remember that you have 1 free "interact" a turn. So if you have a shield and you want to cast a spell it's easy to "sheath weapon" for free and "cast spell" and next turn "draw weapon" for free and attack.
This stops you from using ReAction spells likes Hellish Rebuke, but aside from that you're very free.
When you open combat, you can cast Hex as a Bonus Action, free draw weapon, and then attack. Moving Hex doesn't require recasting the spell just using a Bonus Action.
Having a very limited spell selection means that in the first 2 rounds of combat you can already blow through all your spells and not have to worry about it.
I feel like if you're going Pact of the Blade it's best to opt for two handed weapons 100% of the time then. Even then, it's an action to summon your pact weapon, and a free action to draw one on you. So a sword and board hexblade might be better off picking another pact?
Blade pact Hexblade: Cast Hex, action to summon weapon.
Other pact(?) Sword and board Hexblade: Cast Hex, draw weapon, attack.
This is heavily my personal opinion as play style are radically different.
I see the summon weapon as a cool feature, so you can't be disarmed... not an every day thing. It doesn't matter if you're captured and stripped naked in a dungeon or at the Duke's Daughter's Wedding... with an Action, you are armed.
It takes an Action to Don/Doff a shield. In general when playing Sword and Board I keep the shield on my arm most of the time and draw my weapon when I need to.
With two handed the choice is higher damage (great axe/maul/greatsword) or reach (halberd/glaive/pike). The benefits of a Polearm is you can use the Cantrip Booming Blade to keep the enemy at a distance, but if you're using the Cantrip then you're not using Extra Attack feature. Same can be said for Green Flame Blade with either any weapon. Do you want 2 attacks or a single big attack. That said the Cantrip will keep scaling after lvl 11, Extra Attack won't. Level 11 is long a way away.
Sword/Board gives you a lot more defense, and Warlocks are squishy. They don't have easy ways to heal or reduce damage like Fighters, Barbarians, Monks, etc... and have d8 HP. Hexblade is going to have Medium armor so you're looking at AC15-18 (dependant on Dex and if you're using a Shield)
Two Weapon Fighting is probably terrible has a Hexblade, you can't enchant 2 weapons so 1 is Cha based the other is not. It has the same penalties for casting a Shield, but has more attacks a turn and so can trigger Hex more often.
I personally love Shields, but I'm a hugely defensive player who prioritizes negating damage as being as good or better then healing. That's a personal crutch that effects my view and I know creates a bias. Heck, I have a Wizard who I'm thinking of giving Shield Master so I can be more resistant to enemy casters!
So if I went polearm master, would it be better to attack and then bonus attack, or use booming blade with spear mastery and then back away out of range, so if they chase me they take damage, and I can use my reaction to attack again. At level 5 assuming 16 charisma
1d10+3 + 1d10+3 + 1d4+3 = 12 - 33 damage (polearm mastery)
vs.
1d10+3 + 1d8 + 2d8(if they move before next turn) + 1d10+3 = 11 - 52 damage (spear mastery)
So even by level 5, booming blade with a reach weapon will out damage thirsting blade by quite a large margin... So how do I make the most out of this information? How would I make a slippery, pokey hexblade that casts booming blade when they're close, and if they don't come closer I can throw eldritch blasts at them? Hmmm... Considering I still want to use a spear / polearm. With Mobile and polearm mastery, I could booming blade, step out of range and if they come closer do an opportunity attack. With mobile and spear mastery (two handed) I could do the same thing, but if I move 20 feet away I can bonus action to set my spear. If they move they'd take booming blade damage, plus if they come into range I'd attack for 1d8/10 with a bonus 1d8/10 piercing damage. All this being said, the damage from booming blade is focused around the target following me around and letting me do it to them. Whereas the polearm mastery attacks are based on my own aggression.
Mobile + spear mastery (assuming two handed) at level 5: 1d10+3 + 1d8 + 2d8 + 1d10+3 + 1d10 = 12 - 62 damage. Assuming they move into range for the counter attack. intelligent creatures would kill this combo.
Mobile + polearm mastery at level 5 (double attack): 2d10+6 + 1d4+3 + 1d10+3 = 16 - 46 assuming they move into range for the counter.
Mobile + polearm mastery at level 5 (booming blade): 1d10+3 + 1d8 + 1d4+3 + 2d8 = 11 - 45 assuming they move into range for the counter.
So considering all this, spear mastery has the highest damage range but polearm mastery with thirsting blade would be more consistent overall. Am I missing anything?
Dont forget at level 12 you can get lifedrinker, which adds 5 necrotic to each attack. With polearm master that includes the bonus attack.
Let's consider what level 12 might be like then, assuming an extra 5 damage for each attack.
Mobile + spear mastery w/ booming blade (assuming two handed): 1d10+8 + 1d8 + 2d8 + 1d10+8 + 1d10 = 22 - 72 damage. Average of 47 dpr
Mobile + polearm mastery (double attack): 2d10+10 + 1d4+8 + 1d10+8 = 36 - 66 assuming they move into range for the counter. Average of 49.5 dpr
Mobile + polearm mastery (booming blade): 1d10+8 + 1d8 + 1d4+8 + 2d8 = 21 - 65 assuming they move into range for the counter. Average of 43 dpr
At level 12 the numbers for polearm mastery are much better, and this is all discounting resistances and so on. Polearm mastery will perform more consistently overall, pulling ahead with a higher base damage and average...
...Except that I forgot to add in Booming blade's damage upgrade from level 11, which is an extra 1d8 for each damage roll. meaning;
Mobile + spear mastery w/ booming blade (assuming two handed): 1d10+8 + 2d8 + 3d8 + 1d10+8 + 1d10 = 24 - 86 damage. Average of 55 dpr
Mobile + polearm mastery (double attack): 2d10+10 + 1d4+8 + 1d10+8 = 36 - 66 assuming they move into range for the counter. Average of 49.5 dpr
Mobile + polearm mastery (booming blade): 1d10+8 + 2d8 + 1d4+8 + 3d8 = 23 - 70 assuming they move into range for the counter. Average of 46.5 dpr
Again it looks like Polearm Mastery has a higher minimum damage when using the double attack, but as the game goes on it seems that you need to pair it with Great Weapon Mastery to get the best benefit for it, which I don't really want to invest in with my warlock. That being said, it is a powerful combo. This has pretty much sealed the deal on what I want to do with my character, regardless of being "better" or not, at least it's comparable under the parameters we set.
For other hexblades looking at polearms, going Polearm mastery and then Great weapon mastery, with maybe even elven accuracy to make sure you hit, will give you crazy damage potential. Imagine adding 30 damage to your dpr by level 8. and that's minimum damage, assuming each strike hits.
That reminds me, I forgot to add in the +1 to hit from spear mastery. My calculations assume you're always hitting for dpr. Thanks everyone for the help, you've helped me decide on a character next time we start a new campaign :D
IF you're willing to eat an AoO on a regular basis. Take Polearm Mastery and Warcaster. If you want to keep Hex up, Warcaster will help... as Hex will add to every attack for how long it lasts.Assuming 5th lvl and human to have both feats.Turn 1: Move within 10' of enemy and use Action to attack twice, then move outside of 10'. (B.Action Hex if you want to)Turn 1: Enemy moves within 10' of you, as a ReAction make an AoO (Polearm) and cast Booming Blade (Warcaster). Enemy either stays 10' away or moves within 5' of you and gets the extra damage.Turn 2: Bonus Action. off end attack, Action Attack twice. Move over 10' away from enemy, draw an Attack of Opportunity.....repeat.I'd recommend Armor of Agathys to give extra damage when they attack you and temp HP.You are drawing AoOs, but probably dealing far more damage with your AoOs.Also KageAcuma, Lifedrinker deals your Cha in extra damage, not necessarily +5.
Thank you KageAcuma, I scrap everything I ever said because I missed the 5ft not weapon reach. I'd have to redesign and think about it.
There's another important thing to note.
Booming blade doesn't have reach of the weapon. Its 5 ft, and is not extended with the weapons extra 5 ft range.
Also I'm a little confused with the polearm master math. The actual count would be
1d10+10+1d10+10+1d4+10+1d10+10 [with reaction attack.] Equaling out to 44-74 with an average of 59.
On my Math? I was assuming 16 charisma for all my bonus (just cause), so adding lifedrinker (which I thought was a static +5, thanks fullmetal for clearing that up) brought it up to 8. Where are you getting the +10 from?
Edit to Fullmetalbunny: I was assuming the mobile feat instead of warcaster to after my attacks I could move without provoking opportunity. Warcaster is a good feat but two handed weapons can cast with their offhand to cast bonus action spells and still be able to use cantrips (booming blade) afterward. Warcaster is good because of the advantage to save on concentration saving rolls though.
"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both" -- allegedly Benjamin Franklin
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Ok so let's reorganize raising the value on just one equation inflates its numbers compared to the others.
Mobile + spear mastery w/ booming blade (assuming two handed): 1d10+10 + 2d8 + 3d8 + 1d10+10 + 1d10 = 28 - 90 damage. Average of 59 dpr
Mobile + polearm mastery (double attack): 1d10+10 + 1d10+10 + 1d4+10 + 1d10+10 = 44 - 74 Average of 59 dpr. KageAcuma is correct here.
Looking at the math this way, again, proves that Polearm mastery will pull away in terms of shear minimum damage and consistency. Again, adding something like Great weapon mastery to this would further give even further risk - reward to your damage. But otherwise, the dpr is actually tied here. I'm not trying to say spear mastery is better, only that it's more competitive when you take its bonus action into consideration. Adding Hexblade's curse also gives a small addition to polearm mastery's (your proficiency) dpr considering you get another attack off.
Is there anything else I may be missing that may affect the values here? Please feel free to add your perspective into the mix.